Beach Run

Zim and I decided to get away from Philly's burbs for the weekend and retreated to Ocean City, NJ. We drove last night to beat the rush hour traffic. Took us about an hour and a half. I had a couple of vodkas after we settled in and watched some Muay Thai on TV. Man, there were some brutal elbows in a couple of those matches. Interesting stuff. 

I woke up to a beautiful, sunny, 70 degree morning. I put on my running shoes and ran to the beach. LOVE running on the beach. It's so tranquil and peaceful. It's wasn't super busy on the beach, but there were some other runners, walkers, and fisherman out. The closer I got to the boardwalk the more people began to appear with their beach chairs. Altogether I ran close to 4 miles in a little over 35 minutes. My stride felt good too. Great morning for a run.

After my run, I got changed and went to breakfast at the little corner diner with Zim for some sausage eggs, and coffee. Sooo good! Now to change into my bathing suit and hit the beach! 

Hot Hot Hot!!!

And the heat wave continues!! I believe we're on day 5 of 90+ temperature with heat indexes in the 100s. Tomorrow is supposed to be the worst day coming in at 98, feeling like 108 degrees. Saturday temperatures are supposed to break. Can't wait. Needless to say I haven't ran at all outside. 

This week's workouts were done all inside. Did some boxing, elliptical, the usual stuff. I got in two upper body workouts and one lower body. My work schedule was all over the place this week so I couldn't work out as long as I wanted to. Oh well, at least I got it in. Depending how nasty it is early tomorrow morning I'm going to try to go for a 20-30 minute run. Man, this heat is killer!

Rainy Friday Night

Today's a typical rainy summer night in good old Pennsylvania. Damp and dark all afternoon and evening,full of drenching rain. I beat the rain this early morning with a 6:15am three mile run followed by a quick ab workout. About 3 minutes into my run I ran by a house with a lady coming out of her front door to walk her dog. About 15 seconds later she's screaming across her lawn, which startled me into looking towards her yard. I see a tiny Yorkshire terrier hauling ass towards me with his or her leash dragging behind. I stopped and walked up to the lil doggie, petted him and grabbed his leash. I walked the dog back to his owner to which she replied, "The dog thought you were my sister". I just said, "Ah, okay", and with that she turned around and walked away hastily. I was kinda surprised I didn't get a thank you, but oh well. Then it was back to my run. I was a bit off my game from the dog and my legs were sore from the elliptical and the workout with my dad on Thursday. I still pushed through. 

Wednesday I did a lower body workout with Zim. Weighted body squats (I finally squatted a 100 pounds), weighted lunges, hamstring flex, weighted calf raises and grip training. Love this leg workout. Can definitely feel the squats helping when hill running.

Off to enjoy the rest of this Friday night!

Awesome...It's Tuesday

Tuesdays always kinda suck. Mondays you can talk about what you did on the weekend. Tuesdays you have nothing really more to say other than "Well tomorrow the week's halfway over". I was just never a Tuesday fan. Yup...anyways...workouts.

Monday I worked out at home. Did about 30 minutes of upper body strength training. I did five sets of 2 shoulder, 2 bicep, and 2 tricep exercises. I did push-ups and pull-ups in between. Afterwards I went for a slow 3.25 mile run. It wasn't too muggy out, but when that sun came out, ick. Enjoyed my run regardless.

Today, I barely got any sleep and was called into work on a normal day off. Just couldn't sleep. It happens. On three hours of sleep I got in a 30 minute elliptical workout, followed by 10 minutes of abs. Actually felt better after sweating a bit. I rescheduled my training session with my dad for the evening, and that went well. Glad we could reschedule.

Okay I'm going to play a little Candy Crush and get some sleep. Damn that game is so addictive!!

Playlist: Antiseen: Best Of

Back to Work

How was everyone's 4th? Good I hope! As I got to take in some rays and waves, I got my workouts in here goes:

Thursday: A workout with Zim and my dad at the beach. We took the Bulgarian bag to the shore with us. I made up a workout to incorporate it in. I posted a picture of Mt. Joy below.

12 body squats

12 overhead press with Bulgarian bag (26lb)

12 lunges

12 bent over rows w/ Bulgarian bag

12 squat calf raises

12 dips

12 side lunges

12 push-ups

REPEAT twice

Finish with a 1 minute ab hold and plank.

DONE!

I did run 3 miles afterwards. Nothing beats running down the shore!

Friday: I did an upper body strength workout w/ Zim. It KICKED my ass, but in that good sore.

5 minute warm-up

1) Push-ups (work up to 3 sets of max reps w/ 60 secs rest between)

a)8 reps b)12 c)14 d)14 e)12

2)Overhead bench tricep extension (3-4 sets)

a)12-12lbs b)12-12lbs c)12-12 d)12-12

3)Pull-ups (4 sets, 10-15 reps)

a)11 b)10 c)10 d)10

4)Bradford Press (with barbell)

a)10-45lbs b)10-45lbs c)10-50lb

5)Think Barbell Curl

a)10-45lb b)8-45lb c)8-45lb

6)Ab circuit 

200 ab moves

Saturday: Zim and some of the KASA running crew got together in the morning for a Mt. Joy Valley Forge Park run/hike. The girls and I started with a 15 minute walk/ hike warm-up and then broke into a nice paced 45 minute run. The boys were carrying 10-20 pound sandbags with them on their hike. They were doing hill drills as well. They were getting some last minute practice for this weekends Spartan run. Good workout. It was hot as hell out too. Glad we started somewhat early.

Sunday: Easy day. Nice 35 minute boxing workout. My arms were still sore from Friday.

Our short time at the shore was real fun. We celebrated Zim's birthday with a bunch of seafood, the boardwalk, the sand, and the waves. Too bad the water was only like 60 degrees. A little bit chilly. I bought him a Youth of Today t-shirt at the boardwalk record shop. I got myself a Ceremony t-shirt too. I got to hang out on the beach with my nieces and my sister which was awesome. Zim and I ate some tasty breakfast at the corner diner called Kessel's Corner. Sooo good. We also got to watch fireworks on the beach. Real cool. You can see like 5 different cities fireworks going off. From south of Sea Isle to north of Atlantic City. Had a real relaxing and fun time.

Tomorrow, back to the grind!

Light Workout

Took it light today. Just did 30 minutes on the elliptical and about 5 minutes of abs. It was WAY TOO nasty out today to do anything outside. Muggy, sticky, icky. I also didn't have my Jeep for most of the day, so I had to wait for Zim to get home to get to the gym. Least I got a workout in.

Tomorrow Zim and I are headed to Ocean City NJ in the late afternoon. We're spending a couple of days with my family and coming back home Friday. Tomorrow is his birthday too! Fun times!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Monday Strength Training

Here's my upper body workout:

5 minute warm-up and stretch. Run in place, jumping jacks...

12 alternate shoulder press (15lb)

12 curls (15)

12 tricep kickbacks (12)

REPEAT

10 push-ups

10 asst. pull-ups

12 swimmer's press (15)

12 hammers (15)

12 tricep flip grip press (12)

REPEAT

10 push-ups

10 pull-ups

12 upright rows(15)

10 Cohen curls (15)

20 dips

REPEAT

10 push-ups

10 pull-ups

12 bench press (42)

10 curl/hammers (15)

10 standing overhead tricep press

REPEAT

10 push-ups

10 pull-ups

16 in & out shoulder flys (9)

16 static arm curls (15)

10 pull-ups

16 in & out shoulder flys 

16 static arm curls

10 push-ups

Finish with a nice 3/4 - 1 mile run.

DONE

Happy birthday to one of the coolest ladies on the planet and one of my idols, Deborah Harry! She's 68 years old and still looks fantastic! Blondie has a new album coming out soon and they're touring again this summer! Deborah Harry is truly an awesome gal! 

Playlist: Mischief Brew